Over the years, the heavy duty vehicle industry has used tractor and trailer combinations to transport cargo over the roadways to various desired destinations. The tractors and trailer are conventionally mechanically coupled together so that the tractor efficiently and effectively pulls the trailer. Often, one or more additional trailers are also mechanically coupled to another trailer so that only one tractor pulls a plurality of trailers. With these trailers, however, various schemes have been developed to provide power to the trailers for various uses such as those associated with lighting, communications, temperature control, and other functions.
The trucking industry has conventionally used an auxiliary pin (i.e., pin no. 7) in a known Society of Automotive Engineering ("SAE") J560 standard seven conductor electrical connector to supply power from the tractor to the trailer for many applications, including interior trailer functions. Trucking fleets have often used the auxiliary pin to activate/deactivate the trailer dome lights through a toggle switch located within the tractor. Also, there has now been a federal industry mandate that requires all trailers to be equipped with an automatic braking system ("ABS"). New recommended practices and standards in the industry, however, now require that the auxiliary pin be used as a switched power (tractor key switch) for the trailer ABS. Thus, this auxiliary pin can no longer be used for the toggle switch that controls the trailer dome lights. Consequently, the manual toggle switch may have to be relocated to the trailer interior.
When providing lighting to the interior of a trailer, however, the driver or other personnel are often required to open the door of a trailer, enter the trailer, and turn on at least one switch, e.g., a manual toggle switch, to one or more of the lights within the trailer, e.g., a trailer dome light, which illuminate the interior of the trailer. Often when the trailer door is closed again, such as after unloading cargo, the switch to the light(s) can accidentally remain in the on position or be accidentally switched to the on position such as by shifting trailer cargo. Leaving the light(s) in the on position such as during transit can create a potential fire hazard and can cause power or power distribution problems, as well as other problems, associated with the tractor and/or trailer.